An injury to Scott Bain is holding up Craig Gordon’s Celtic departure.
Gordon has made it known to Celtic that he wants to get first team football but with Bain currently injured there is only untried youths Ryan Mullen and Liam Hughes available as back up. Conor Hazard and Ross Doohan are both out on loan.
Bain injured a thumb during Celtic’s 4-3 Champions League defeat from Cluj in August and has still to recover from that knock. An outfield player would probably be able to get around it but clearly for a goalkeeper it is critical.
Gordon lost his place as first choice keeper exactly a year ago and believes that first team football can revive his international hopes with Scotland two matches away from reaching Euro 2020.
Covering the situation, The Sun reports:
Neil Lennon and Hoops goalie coach Stevie Woods are believed to be ready to grant Gordon his wish out of respect for his desire to play — but only if they can find a new understudy to No1 Forster.
Bain is currently out injured after breaking his thumb, while kid Conor Hazard has been allowed to join Dundee on loan for the second half of the season.
That leaves Gordon as the only fit back-up for No1 Forster, who re-joined the Hoops on loan from Southampton last summer.
Gordon has made only six appearances for Celts this season but the keeper, who has won 54 caps, is desperate to continue playing and force his way back into national team boss Steve Clarke’s plans ahead of the Euro 2020 play-offs.
David Marshall is the current first choice Scotland keeper with Craig MacGillivray of Portsmouth and Sunderland’s Jon McLaughlin as back-up.
Should Celtic let Craig Gordon leave this month?
Yes, he deserves a chance to play first team again
No, we need to cover every possibility
After speculation of interest from Chelsea in January 2017 Celtic awarded Gordon a new deal which runs through until June 2020.
With a home in Edinburgh a switch to Hearts would be the 0bvious move for the keeper but Hearts have taken Joel Pereira on loan from Manchester United for the season which may delay their interest in Gordon until the summer.